Rent Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Dystopian Sci-Fi. - Invasion of the Body Snatchers review by Steve

Classic adaptation of Jack Finney's timeless science fiction concept is often assumed to be an allegory for Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch hunts in post-war USA. Others suggest a near opposite, that it was intended to be a warning of the spread of communism. Don Siegel testified that he intended his film to comment on the brainwashing effect of materialism in the contemporary economic boom.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a brilliant vehicle for critiquing any kind of conformity. The film features an alien invasion, not from flying saucers, but from seeds, which have blown in from space. They grow into pods which can mimic the exact appearance of the hosts, and once established take over their being and memories. Only without individuality. Then, the pod-people attack the freedom of others, claiming they will be happier without individuality or emotion.

There is no intergalactic conflict. It is the start of a wave of sci-fi films about conspiracies which tap into society's paranoia about a perceived hidden threat. At the end of the film Kevin McCarthy is running on the freeway shouting about the danger to us all: 'you're next, you're next'. But no one stops to listen. Maybe he is insane? Maybe it's true? Sadly, the studio insisted on a couple of framing scenes which removed that ambiguity.

Seigel was a wonderful genre director. His only science fiction film is justly legendary, and has become part of our cultural language. It has a great film noir look and while the meagre budget may have limited funds for special effects, they are still good. McCarthy has become almost exclusively famous just for this role, and with the unusually beautiful Dana Wynter forms quite a permissive relationship for the period.

Classic SciFi/Horror - Invasion of the Body Snatchers review by GI

This is a culturally significant American science fiction/horror film which tapped into the American paranoia of the 1950s threat of communism bought about by the Cold War and the McCarthy witch-hunts at home. There was a cycle of such films which dealt with the fear of atomic war or the Soviet threat to the world and this is one of the most famous and renowned of them. Don Siegel directs a fast paced and tense thriller where a small town doctor discovers that the townspeople are slowly being replaced by replicas of themselves which emerge from giant seed pods. A masterpiece of the scifi genre and a film that deserves rediscovery, check it out if you haven't seen it.